Today was a Fairytale
by Forever-Tangled
Summary: Rapunzel's first Valentine's day gets off to a rough start. One-shot. Rated K because it's just fluff, not inappropriate. Title inspired by Taylor Swift's song, "Today was a Fairytale". Disclaimer: I don't own the movie or the song.


**Title inspired from Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale". I don't own Tangled or "Today Was a Fairytale", obviously! :D **

Rapunzel sat down at her parents' table in their dining hall, shivering. It was a very chilly February morning, but today gave her extra reason to be jumpy at every noise. It was February the fourteenth, or St Valentine's Day.  
Her parents smiled a little wider when they saw their daughter, who had been home for almost eight months.  
"Happy Valentine's Day, darling!" the Queen told her.  
Rapunzel gave a small laugh. "Yeah..got to watch out for that!"  
"Watch out for what?" Eugene strode through the door, dressed in a thick gray shirt, a black vest, and pants. He carried a single rose from the royal greenhouse. "A devilishly handsome man carrying a rose for his beloved, special for today?" he presented it to Rapunzel, who gave him a wide-eyed, uncertain gaze. "Why today, of all the most dreadful days?"  
He laughed, slightly hurt. "It's Valentine's Day, silly. What's dreadful about it?"  
She sat back in her chair. "Saint Valentine - how he could be a _saint_, I'll never know - steals into peoples' houses and-and...kills couples with his bow and arrow! You say it's 'happy Valentine's day' if you don't get killed. Don't you know about him?"  
The King stared at Rapunzel in mild shock. "Who told you that?"

"Mothe-well...Gothel," she said.  
"And you believed her? All these years?" The King asked.  
"Yes," she said quietly, looking at him. "Should I not have?"  
"That woman was nothing but lies! Why did you never discard everything she told you?"  
"She raised me for eighteen years," Rapunzel's shoulders came up, and she was obviously embarrassed with the whole situation. "I'm sorry."  
"It's fine," the King shook his head.  
Everyone ate in silence, until the Queen softly spoke up as she stood. "We- your father and I - were planning on a, well, a date of sorts, so will you be okay here today?"  
"Yes, mother," Rapunzel nodded, looking up long enough to smile at her mother. "I hope you two have a nice day."  
"Thank you, darling. You too!" she stood up and went to hug her before leaving the room with the King.

Rapunzel cleared her throat and looked back down at her near-empty plate, pushing around what was left on it. She was horribly embarrassed. Had Eugene planned a big, elaborate day, only to have it ruined by the person he'd planned it for? From the corner of her eye, she caught him watching her with a strange expression, so she stood up abruptly, speaking as she rushed from the dining hall. "I'm sorry!"  
She heard him call after her, but didn't slow. She was so dreadfully embarrassed, and who knows what he was thinking, and...oh, why _hadn't _she thrown away all of Gothel's teaching, all of her lies and scary stories?!

She started for her room, but backtracked and went to the library instead. She knew he'd look for her in her bedroom first, and she didn't want to talk about it and be even more embarrassed. She curled up in a corner of the library, burying her face in her knees. Gothel had never celebrated anything except for birthdays, and would tell her horribly scary stories if she read about holidays and asked her about them. She'd embarrassed herself over several holidays since she'd arrived back home, and she couldn't bear to be so-so _stupid_ \- one more time!  
"Rapunzel?" All too soon, Eugene had found her. She didn't answer, not even moving a muscle, hoping he'd leave. "I'm right in front of you, you can't hide," a sweet scent filled her nostrils, and she finally glanced up to see him holding the rose out to her again. It was enough to make her burst into tears.  
"I don't want t-to talk about it...I'm sor-"  
"Hey." he crouched in front of her. "It's not your fault, so stop apologizing. Do you want to know why we celebrate Valentine's Day?"  
She sniffled and looked at him, her eyes teary. "What is it?"  
"It's a special day of sorts to tell your loved ones you love them. It's supposed to be a day of love and happiness, not terrifying stories of people breaking in and killing happy couples. One would typically get a love note or letter, flowers, sweets of some sort...so on and so forth, on Valentine's Day." he explained carefully, watching her face with a soft expression.  
"Oh," she said in a small voice. "And I-I blew it again."  
"No you didn't," he reached to take her hands in his. "The day's still new. You're learning things every day."  
"I'm sorry I rushed out of the dining hall, too - I was just so embarrassed and then you were looking really funny at me and I thought you were probably upset at me-"

He laughed. "It's okay. And it was quite the opposite, actually. If I was staring at you, I didn't mean it and probably was lost in thought about you. Specifically how much you mean to me," he admitted after a minute. She dropped her gaze to her lap, so he kissed her knuckles to catch her attention again. "Don't feel bad. And if your parents give you a rough time for not just abandoning everything you've learned for your entire childhood...well...I don't know what to tell you, but it's tough. Understandable. Or at least, it should be understandable. Okay, sweetheart?"  
She gulped and nodded. "Did I overreact?"  
"Do you ever _not _overreact?" he teased gently, winking so she knew he wasn't meaning it. "No, you didn't."  
She let a slow smile develop across her face. "Okay. Thank you for being patient with me."  
"Only the utmost patience for m'lady," he grinned and reached to smooth her soft brown hair away from her wide eyes.

Smiling, she reached forward and pulled him into a quick, light kiss. "I love you!"  
He soaked up her dazzling smile. "Love you too, beautiful girl. Now would you _please _take this stinking rose off my hands? I'm about to give it to the first maid that comes by, just to be rid of it."  
She giggled and nodded, taking it carefully from his hand. "Thank you. You try to act all tough, but you're really just a sweet, soft old marshmallow."  
"Am I?" he teased.  
"Yes. Absolutely!" she grinned. He stood up and held his hands out to her, so she took them and got onto her feet as well.  
"Really? Me? A _marshmallow_?"  
"Mhm!" she laughed. When he continued to playfully protest, she kissed him again just to shut him up momentarily. This time, the young man pulled her close and when their lips parted, he rested his forehead on hers, completely okay with losing himself in those dancing, innocent eyes.  
"For the record, you're pretty darn close to perfection." Clearing his throat, he straightened, loosening his arms around her. She buried her face in his vest to hide her smile for a moment. "What do you want to do today?"  
She cocked her head to the side, watching his face for a moment. "Whatever you want."  
"Well...we're in the library right now, so we could just stay here and just read the day away, if you want," he offered. He loved how her eyes lit up at the mention of reading. And _she _loved the way he fought to keep from smiling as he spoke.  
"I'd love to!" She paused. "Er...you know...that'd be kind of nice," she cleared her throat, mildly embarrassed at her previous display of excitement.

Eugene chuckled, turning to pull her favorite book off of a shelf. "Okay. Reading fairytales on a fairytale kind of day - ironic but perfectly fine by me." She sat down cross-legged on the floor, as did he, and she leaned her head on his shoulder as she read. Of course, Eugene stared at a particular princess more than he actually read the book she was reading, but that was just typical.


End file.
